Legal Counsel (New Categories Commercial)

BAT is evolving at pace into a global multi-category business. With products like VELO, VUSE and GLO we are on a mission to decrease the health impact of our industry. To achieve our ambition, we are looking for colleagues who are ready to Be The Change. Come, join us on this journey!

British American Tobacco Malaysia has an exciting opportunity for a Legal Counsel Commercial in Sunway Geo.

The focus of the role is to provide proactive and business relevant legal counselling of a high professional standard to the Operations function on all aspects of procurement arrangements, including development, services, manufacturing and supply agreements.

Your key responsibilities will include:

Business

• Member of New Categories Commercial Legal team, reporting into a Senior Counsel.
• Providing strategic advice and commercial counselling to the relevant business partners to support the operation of key contractual arrangements in place, while effectively managing relevant risks, with a focus on the following:
• Third party procurement related contracts to support the New Categories business (supply, manufacturing, services agreements, NDAs);
• Intragroup supply chain contracts to support the New Categories business initiatives; and Efficiency initiatives.
• Support the overall contract management system and processes including drafting, negotiating, approving and executing contracts pursuant to the company's contract management policy and Governance policies; as well as training the business and improving ways of working.
• Identifying and mitigating commercial and legal risk in proposed commercial arrangements (including risks relating to intellectual property, competition, and compliance risks).
• Advising on the escalation and resolution of contractual disputes, and about contract termination.
• Ensuring proper corporate governance in place for internal compliance.
• Providing guidance on application of BAT Group policies, procedures and governance to proposed and operational third party and intra-group arrangements.
• Advising on the presentation of proposed transactional matters for consideration and approval by the appropriate leadership team, board or committee.
• Instructing and managing external legal counsel in relation to complex, high profile and/or strategically important transactions and other advice, reviewing output, and controlling and approving spend.
• Ensuring good information flows between business contacts, Legal, and other business partners about business initiatives to optimise commercial opportunities and manage risks.
• Supporting other team members within Ops & Commercial Legal and DBS KL as and when required.
• Proactively support to drive corporate strategies in Legal driven areas as a member of the Business, Integrity and Compliance Legal team.

People

• Supervise, provide guidance, training and support to direct reports.
• Identify areas of development for direct reports, defined and implement together with the direct reports a development plan.
• Embracing the Company’s values, vision and culture by actively applying these to the role and advocating these with colleagues.
• Demonstrating excellence in own work by improving technical and managerial skills as identified and agreed in personal development plan.
• Proactively seeking to identify opportunities to create legal awareness and working to improve the Company's position.
• Demonstrating personal and professional experience by:

1. sharing best practices and knowledge efficiently;
2. providing excellent guidance, training and support to direct reports and other team members;
3. outstanding management of significant legal risks to the business;
4. concentrating at being lawyers at the heart of the business, and
5. establishing strong links with the Global Legal community and contributing to the success of the Legal function.

What are we looking for?

Experience Required

• Experience and expertise in commercial law and practice, with a proven track record of advising on complex and high-value global frameworks and cross-border transactions and other operations contractual arrangements.
• Experience and expertise (or at least strong willingness) in developing and training direct reports.

Technical / Functional / Leadership Skills Required

• Excellent legal drafting skills with an ability to identify and advise on compliance risk and cross-border issues.
• Strong negotiation and project management skills, and ability to plan, anticipate and manage priorities to optimise output and enhance the effectiveness of commercial solutions throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Business acumen in order to advise the business on how to deliver results whilst managing legal risk.
• Hands-on and flexible attitude, sound commercial judgement, and ability to work under pressure and to cope with unexpected and varied demands.
• Good awareness of legal issues relating to intellectual property, competition, employment, tax and compliance (e.g. sanctions, anti-bribery) to enable potential issues to be identified at an early stage of a transaction or initiative, and an understanding of legal duty of care issues in the context of product liability.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and a high degree of emotional intelligence, with the ability to build trusted and effective relationships with peers and stakeholders.
• Ability to express legal issues in a straightforward and compelling way to internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to apply knowledge of legal drafting to adapt contract templates where necessary and mitigate key risks.
• Ability to communicate legal concepts to business colleagues in clear, simple terms.
• Experience in governance, risk and compliance.
• Keeps up to date with changes in law and BAT Group policies, procedures and governance globally to ensure that the commercial/transactional structures, documentation, policies and contract management processes remain current and commercially appropriate.

Education / Qualifications / Certifications Required

• Qualified lawyer with post qualification experience with a minimum of 10 years’ post qualification experience, gained in a large national or international law firm or as in-house counsel for a major multi-national company with proven track record of knowledge of English contract law.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Proficiency in written and spoken Mandarin language is a must-have.

What we offer you?

• We offer a market leading annual performance bonus (subject to eligibility).
• Our range of benefits varies by country and includes diverse health plans, initiatives for work-life balance, transportation support, and a flexible holiday plan with additional incentives.
• Your journey with us isn't limited by boundaries; it's propelled by your aspirations.

Join us at BAT and become a part of an environment that thrives on internal advancement, where your career progression isn't just a statement – it's a reality we're eager to build together. Seize the opportunity and own your development; your next chapter starts here.

• You'll have access to online learning platforms and personalized growth programs to nurture your leadership skills.
• We prioritise continuous improvement within a transformative environment, preparing for ongoing changes.

WHY JOIN BAT? We’re one of the few companies named as a Global Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute – certified in offering excellent employee conditions.

Collaboration, inclusion and partnership underpin everything we do here at BAT. We are looking forward to enabling every individual to thrive, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, skills, experience, education, socio-economic and professional background, veteran status, perspectives and thinking styles. We know that embracing talent from all backgrounds is what makes us stronger and best prepared to meet our business goals.

We see the career breaks as opportunities not obstacles. Through The Global Returners program, we support professionals looking to restart their careers after an extended absence from the workforce (e.g. time out caring for family, parental leave, national service, sabbatical and/or starting an own venture).

Come bring your difference and see what is possible for you at BAT. Learn more about our culture and our award winning employee experience here.

If you require any reasonable adjustments or accommodations to help you perform at your best during the recruitment process, you are encouraged to notify us. We are fully committed to support you by making appropriate arrangements for you to demonstrate your full potential.